Rachel had spent, nearly, a whole afternoon searching for the Hufflepuff, Cedric (the irony stung her). She had eventually found him, but only, of course, after lurking outside his common room for a solid half an hour. It was clear that Cedric wasn't quite so happy to see her as she was to see him.
That confused her.
But, like usual, Rachel had ignored the signs that Cedric probably wasn't in the mood for her company and invited him to join her on a walk. Being too polite to say no, he had followed her. The two awkwardly strolled around the castle seeing as Rachel had deemed it too cold to step out into the spring air. It, to say the least, was tense and had an odd feeling to it, as though the two both wanted to say something but unsure as of how to.
Again, this confused Rachel.
Why was it so hard to suddenly ask Cedric for help? They were friends were they not? For the past year, the two had surprisingly hung out a lot. With all the drama at the beginning of the school year, Cedric was a nice change for Rachel to hang out with. Especially when she had been fake-dating George (it still made her laugh to think she had been with George bloody Weasley) she had come into conflict with hanging out with Cedric from both her boyfriend and Cedric's girlfriend, Cho Chang. Rachel doubted she'd ever like the Ravenclaw.
But yet something about them nowadays was off, they had not argued so it couldn't have been anything to do with that. She just couldn't put her finger on it. Was it guilt from the Yule Ball? It couldn't have been, Rachel decided, she felt no regret from that night; none whatsoever. That was when it clicked for her. It wasn't Rachel who was acting oddly or weirdly. It was Cedric... and she knew why.
The second task required an object of value to the Triwizard Champions. While Rachel had been shocked that she was not 'stolen' from Harry, it was beginning to make sense now as she mulled the thoughts over in her head. Hermione had been Viktor Krum's, obviously due to the fact the two were practically dating. He had obvious feelings for Rachel's friend and had done everything in his power to speak to her. That's why she had been Cedric's. Cedric, like Viktor with Hermione, liked Rac-
"So, what exactly are we out here for?" Cedric broke her train of thought as they arrived by the Herbology classrooms.
"Oh," she gasped, coming to terms with where they were, "well, it seems kind of rude of me to suddenly jump straight into this but... well, we need your help."
"My help?" Cedric repeated, confused.
"Yes, well, Harry needs it." Rachel corrected herself and looked to Cedric.
"He always seems to be in need of my help." Cedric stated with a sigh.
Ignoring the slightly cold tone to Cedric's voice, Rachel smiled at him kindly and gave a light-hearted, but fake, laugh. "You clearly have the best advice he's looking for, but I ask for it... not him. I just worry about him, that's all. He's about as sharp as a quaffle," Cedric laughed, "and quite frankly, he's just going to end up hurt unless he gets help. But especially not from Professor Moody."
"What's wrong with Professor Moody?" Cedric asked her with a frown.
"I just don't... trust him." She answered truthfully. "He doesn't live up to the tales I had heard of him."
Cedric nodded and was silent. He stayed silent for several moments, Rachel wondered if she should ask again for his help. Though all it seemed these days was her asking for his help. It did make her feel pretty awful sometimes but hell, Harry needed it, whether he admitted to it or not.
Unlike the other champions, Harry was still in his fourth year and hadn't learnt nearly half the spells like Fleur Delacour did. There was no harshness to Rachel's thoughts, it was the truth. Harry had, accidently, dived into the deep end of the pool with his hands tied. Professor Moody seemed to follow him, and consequently Rachel, around, giving him advice or asking him to see him in his room.
From the letters Rachel had received from Remus about Alastor Moody, she gathered that the man was a colourful character with an odd personality. Sirius on the other hand, whose letters were few and far between forgivably, simply stated he was going mad from his many years as an auror. Either way, it still didn't settle the uneasy nerves in her stomach.
She did not trust the man.
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about the third task, only that it's the last one." Cedric then said with an apologetic undertone. "No one does."
"Oh..." Rachel hummed. "Well, I suppose I'd better leave you to the rest of your day then."
"Will you talk to me again?" Cedric asked her as she had gone to step away.
She frowned a little, stopping still and looking at him with the upmost confusion. Her head tilted a little as she tried to understand him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Cedric started, stepping closer to her, "we were so close before hand but now... well, we're not."
"Times change, I suppose." Rachel said with a fake smile, taking a step away.
"Doesn't have to, though, does it?" Cedric smiled gently, again taking a step forward in her direction.
She paused for moment and stared at Cedric wondering what he was going on about. He was getting awfully close to her, literally inches away from her face. Her breath hitched in her face, blood rushed to her face as she grew red. Rachel found herself a little lost for words. Her eyes widened with a sudden realisation as she remembered the 'minor' detail about his love for her.
"OKAY, THANKS FOR YOUR TIME CEDRIC!" Rachel was suddenly yelling, all flustered.
"Woah, are you alright?" He quickly said, looking as though he had been slapped.
"JUST FINE." Rachel replied once more. "I'LL GO LET HARRY KNOW."
And with that she had ran off, quicker than expected, leaving Cedric by the Herbology classrooms. In fact, she didn't stop running until she was safely far away from him. And then she frowned when she did so, leant up against a wall not so far from the library where she thought she could hide.
She was acting awfully funny around Cedric, he would suspect something if she weren't careful. She had similar feelings for Cedric. Sure, he was attractive, smart, kind and loyal but... he was out of her league. And she felt embarrassed.
A tired hand rubbed her face as she scrunched up her nose, and with a huff, shuffled her robes onto her shoulders properly. With that, she continued to walk away quietly, thoughts rushing round her head. Cedric's feelings, Harry's inability to not make Rachel worry, Mad-Eye following the twins and Sirius' letters, which were becoming shorter and shorter each time. That was someone she quite often missed.
Sirius hadn't been seen in some time, he was in hiding now and hadn't actually told Rachel where. She assumed it was because he was scared the letters would be intercepted and he'd be thrown back into Azkaban. But, unlike last year where she snuck out nearly every weekend, she hadn't seen his face. It upset Rachel quite a bit; she secretly thought it would be awesome for the two to run around in their animagus forms like children. A faint grin spread across her face.
"Rachel!" A voice called out and caused her to turn her head.
"Oh, hey, Aspen." Rachel said with a small smile.
"Hey!" The Ravenclaw giggled excitedly, rushing up to the Gryffindor. "How have you been? We haven't spoken in some time."
"Yeah, you could say that..." Rachel pulled a face. "Well, all in all, not too bad: just running round after my brother as usual. How about you?"
"Fine! In fact, more than fine! I'm doing great." Aspen grinned some more, which made Rachel give her a side look and cheeky grin.
"Oh really." She said slyly. "How's things with you and Seamus?"
Rachel began to laugh as Aspen turned bright red and in that moment Rachel suddenly became very reminiscent. Her mind went back to the days when the two would sit in their Transfiguration class last year hurriedly talking under the breaths about Aspen's huge almighty crush on Seamus Finnigan; who was sat two seats away in a little daydream more often than not. Rachel remembered seeing Aspen light up when Seamus had asked her to the ball, she couldn't remember the last time Aspen had been so giddily excited. So when she had heard they were together it was like a little dream come true.
"F-fine, we're fine." Aspen tried hiding her smile as she looked at the ground earning a playful shove from Rachel.
"Hmm, just 'fine'? Are you sure?" Rachel teased.
"You're such an arse." Aspen rolled her eyes and laughed. "But, yes, we're doing great. It's been... wow, months! Honestly though, you talking to him back then, setting us up, it really paid off... and I'm entirely grateful!"
"Yeah, well, I ship it so you had to be with him." Rachel winked. "It was nice hearing you two got together; I know how much you liked him."
Aspen blushed once more and gave Rachel another thankful smile. As the two walked, Rachel ended up telling Aspen everything that had happened. She wasn't sure why, but Aspen was a really great listener and it made Rachel regret that they weren't as close as they had once been before. It was nice though, for Rachel to unload everything to someone who didn't really have any biased opinion for she knew nothing on the matter at all. It was oddly comforting.
For the whole talk, Aspen barely made a comment, only a small hum in agreement or a 'ooh' when she could tell something was bugging Rachel. It was so pleasant for Rachel to unwind; she decided she would have to ramble to Aspen more often.
But then Rachel had ran out of things to say and within the tiny silence, Aspen brought up a topic that had always hung around Rachel like a shadow.
"What ever happened to you and Kayla Donavon?"
That had made Rachel silent. Her face turned gloomy and she looked ahead into space, giving a little shrug.
"I have no idea." She sighed. "I don't know what I did, I don't know what even happened between us. Donavon just came back into fourth year and didn't want to be friends... but even then it wasn't like she was ignoring me. She was trying to... be my enemy, I don't know."
"Hmm, I did notice that." Aspen nodded wisely. "I remember seeing you two so close last year, I saw her argue with you just the other day in fact."
Rachel scoffed and rolled her eyes. When were they not arguing? It sucked big time for Rachel. Kayla was one of the only people who had truly understood her. Most of the time she felt like she was putting on a mask for others to see but when she had been with Kayla it was quite the opposite.
Of course nowadays, Rachel had changed and was no longer the same person Kayla had known back when she was 11. Yet it still hurt Rachel, though she tried not to let it on, that her best friend would suddenly turn on her; for no apparent reason. Letting out a sigh, Rachel turned to look at Aspen who was quite a bit shorter than Rachel.
"I suppose I had better leave you to the rest of your day." Rachel swung her arms loosely by her sides. "Thanks for listening to me ramble on."
"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Aspen smiled sweetly. "We're friends after all; anyway, I'll see you around soon hopefully!"
Rachel grinned and began to walk away, throwing a smile and a wave in Aspen's direction before she continued to walk alone. But as she had started to approach the second floor she passed yet another Ravenclaw. However, this Ravenclaw wasn't alone.
It was Cho Chang.
Sticking her tongue into her cheek, Rachel tried to push past Cho with her two friends, their names escaped Rachel's mind but she doubted it mattered. Everyone knew her, she just didn't know everyone. But Rachel's wish of peace was interrupted by the Ravenclaw's who were quick to make comments.
"You've been hanging round with Cedric again, haven't you?" Cho's friend with ginger hair said, crossing her arms.
"So what if I did." Rachel looked her up and down. "He's a friend."
"A friend is he?" Cho coughed. "That's not what it looked like at Christmas.
"Oh you know what, Chang? Just do one." Rachel scoffed.
"So you have nothing to say to that." The other girl began to laugh.
Rachel turned to her and sweetly smiled at her, tilting her head so her hair started to slip in front of her face. She shook her head. There was little time to waste on these girls and all Rachel wanted to do was pull out her wand and hex every one of them. Of course, she'd land several detentions and it wasn't really worth wasting her energy on them.
"What were you talking about, hmm?" Cho mused with an annoyed glare. "About how much you loved each other? You see, Cedric wouldn't stop talking about you when we were together."
"It all makes sense now!" Rachel laughed throwing her hands in the air. "You're just jealous. But come on Chang, even you have to admit, I'm quite the catch."
Cho scoffed and gave her a look that was as if she had just seen the most vulgar thing on the planet. It didn't bother Rachel. She just got a rouse out of this. But was this the end of the conversation? No. Just before Rachel could walk away, Draco, Kayla, Pansy and the two 'body guards' Crabbe and Goyle arrived, just on cue to make Rachel's day even more of a pain.
Rachel rolled her eyes and let out a groan. Was this really necessary? The three had been stood there on the tail end of the conversation and had heard enough for them to make their own judgements. Stood in the middle, was Draco.
Like usual, he had his infamous smirk on and watched as the three Ravenclaw girls began to walk away, not wanting to be surrounded by anymore fourth years.
"Hah," Draco let out a laugh and looked to his peers before returning his gaze to Rachel, "the only thing Diggory would catch around you is a disease."
Letting the Slytherins time to laugh, Rachel smiled cockily as she observed them all in front of her before slowly walking up to Draco. She flashed him a smirk and stared him straight in the eye.
"So why were you so close to me at the Yule Ball, huh?" Rachel coolly said. "Seeing as we were in close encounters that night, you might want to get checked out. After all, I'm quite infectious."
And with that Rachel pushed him out of the way with one arm and made her way through the crowd. A satisfied grin was on her face as she could hear Pansy Parkinson immediately pounce on Draco with a million questions. No doubt the rumours would soon spread. But hell, the look on Draco's face was worth it all to Rachel.
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